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Longtime guitar teacher retires, leaves behind lasting legacy Page 5
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Eye of the Tiger’s editorial board questions district handling of misconduct Page 7
RHS Theater Company, drama students put on two productions at once Page 9
Twins strengthen team culture across different RHS varsity sports Page 12
EYE OF THE TIGER Roseville High School’s student-produced publication
eyeofthetigernews.com
Eye of the Tiger
@EOTNews
1 Tiger Way, Roseville, CA
FEB. 5, 2017 ISSUE 6, VOLUME 15
WHEN TENURE INTERFERES
H Pre-Calc weight to be dropped
After RJUHSD placed a teacher on administrative leave nearly a year after a student alleged he sexually harassed her, Eye of the Tiger investigated how administrative regulation may affect disciplinary consequences for teachers. BY CAM MEDRANO
c.medrano@eyeofthetigernews.com
In April of last school year, a Woodcreek high school freshman reported incidents of sexual harassment by Health and Safety teacher Doug Mason. As per protocol, RJUHSD assistant superintendent Steve Williams led an investigation to determine the validity of al-
legations made. Upon a complaint or allegation against a faculty member, the district must meet with all parties involved and review evidence and legal matters prior to any directive measures. According to a letter from Williams to the parents of the student, a first investigation led the district to believe that Mason’s behavior
violated professional standards. However, the district did not move forward with dismissal. The parents of the student who originally filed a complaint against Mason requested that the California Department of Education (CDE) review the case. Ultimately, the CDE determined TENURE | Page 2
BY JOSHUA KEATON
j.keaton@eyeofthetigernews.com
CAM MEDRANO EYE OF THE TIGER
RJUHSD executive director of Personnel Services Brad Basham works in his office. Basham said tenure has the ability to impede district disiplinary action.
Class size variation impacts efficiency
MIKAYLA STEARNS EYE OF THE TIGER
BRIAN NUEVO EYE OF THE TIGER
BY LAUREN JULIN
l.julin@eyeofthetigernews.com
Although the student-toteacher ratio in the Roseville Joint Union High School District is 27.5-1, actual class sizes can vary widely. Some classes like PE, Dance and Student Government often carry over 40 students per period. Meanwhile, more specialized courses like AP French or AP Physics could have fewer than 20. Several factors - such as popularity with students, facilities capacity where classes are held, teacher availability, conflicts with other classes and
periods contribute to these discrepancies. Because of this, teachers may find themselves teaching classes with greatly varied student enrollment. Teacher CJ Addington’s first and second period AP Environmental Science classes currently have 41 students enrolled in each class while his fourth period AP Physics class contains 17. As a result, Addington has experienced issues regarding direct contact with his students. “If you get too many people in a class, it’s just really hard to make those one-on-one connec-
Left, CJ Addington teaches his AP Physics class of 17 students. Above, 46 students sit in Susan Hoffman’s first period French class. Discrepancies in class sizes like this happen at RHS for several reasons including student preferences and teacher availability.
tions,” Addington said. “I’d like to spend more time with each person and it’s just hard when there’s a lot of people.” Due to large class sizes, teachers sometimes struggle to efficiently manage grading for students. According to Addington, the more students he has in each class, the more time he must spend on making sure all of their grades and assignments are updated. This takes away from individual time spent with students. “It just takes longer,” Addington said. “The sorting and the paperwork and do-
ing grades. It adds a lot of extra work.” Senior Melanie Schroeder feels that large classes negatively impact her learning and that noise from students in the classroom make it difficult for her to ensure that she can follow teacher instruction. “It is harder for me to focus in class because there’s a lot of students talking constantly and it’s loud and sometimes I miss what the teacher says because I can’t hear [them],” Schroeder said. Schroeder believes that RATIO | Page 3
New AP Euro alternative lacks APUSH prep AP Human Geo. structure leaves students behind BY NICOLE KHUDYAKOV
n.khudyakov@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School requires students take AP European History, World Studies or AP Human Geography as a prerequisite to AP US History. However, some teachers and students have cast recent doubts concerning the validity of AP Human Geography as an effective course in comparison to AP European History. According to AP coordinator Carrie Oberreuter, the course was not originally designed to segway directly into AP US History. “AP Human Geography is meant to be an elective, not necessarily a sequential path to AP US,” Oberreuter said.
In previous years, prerequisite classes for a student to take AP US were limited to AP Euro or World Studies. A recent development, in the form of a vote taken by the school board at the end of the 2014-15 school year, changed that. Now, taking the class fulfills a world studies-based district requirement. Due to these changes, students are beginning to consider the course an alternative for their sophomore year. AP Euro teacher Carol Crabtree felt that the change opened a door for students who were previously unwilling to take a blocked, year long AP class. “When they go and take the AP Human Geography course, they use what they’ve learned in certain areas,” Crabtree said. According to current AP Human Geography teacher Mark Andreatta, the course does not directly prepare students for AP US History, nor is it intended to
do so. Freshmen are warned to reconsider choosing to take the class as a substitute for AP Euro or World Studies on AP Night.
“It prepares you in terms of the volume of content you have to get ready for, but in terms of actual test prep for AP US, it PREP | Page 3
NICK PROVENCAL EYE OF THE TIGER
Junior Jordan Susbilla sits in Jessica Fork’s AP U.S. History class last Thursday on registration day. Last school year, he took AP Human Geography as a sophomore, opting out of AP European History.
Beginning next school year, Honors-Pre Calculus will no longer be a weighted course. Honors Pre-Calculus teacher David Ray believes that this change will not cause a drop in class enrollment. According to RJUHSD assistant superintendent Jess Borjon, the district will be replacing Honors Pre-Calculus with a college-level algebra course to appeal to the students interested in a humanities field of study. “In the end, the goal for all our curriculum choices is to best serve students,” Borjon said in an email. “We are convinced that offering a College Algebra course and a regular Pre-calculus course that covers trigonometry is accomplishing that goal.” According to Borjon, the district realized the pre-calculus course offered was more of a college algebra course and not a pre-calculus course. “The correct naming of the course is College Algebra for the ‘non-trig’ based course and pre-calculus for the ‘trig’ based course,” Borjon said. Ray still sees value in the class and hopes the drop in credit will not deter students. “[It] is the stepping stone to Calculus,” Ray said. “I couldn’t imagine a student who was going on to take Calculus not taking PreCalculus because of the removal of ‘honors’ from the name.”
FIT Report guidelines updated
BY DANIELLE BENNETT d.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com
RJUHSD approved revisions of the Facility Inspection Tool guidelines at the January 23 board meeting. The revised guidelines call for analysis of additional facility conditions, including lighting and drainage. Additionally, the revisions expanded on the existing guidelines in accordance with two new laws – AB 10, requiring feminine hygiene products in high-poverty schools, and AB 746, addressing lead testing for drinking water. According to assistant superintendent Joe Landon, the California School Boards Association recommended updates for the board policy. “The most common reason for updates are due to new laws, but sometimes they recommend updates for other reasons,” Landon said in an email. “This particular policy had changes mainly to cover two new laws… They also did some rewording of various sections to make the policy more concise.”
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